


Erised 2

by J_Antebellum



Series: Erised [2]
Category: Cormoran Strike Series - Robert Galbraith, USWNT - Fandom, Women's Association Football | Women's Soccer RPF
Genre: Crossover, F/F, Part 2
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2021-03-17
Updated: 2021-03-24
Packaged: 2021-03-26 17:15:32
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 4
Words: 9,571
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/30109353
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/J_Antebellum/pseuds/J_Antebellum
Summary: Our detectives' adventures continue for one last installment
Relationships: Ashlyn Harris/Ali Krieger
Series: Erised [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2215608
Comments: 1
Kudos: 15





	1. Versus the world

**Chapter 1: Versus the world.**

The snow hit them strongly as the two women, tucked in their coats in the middle of a blizzard, carried shovels and two big black plastic bags into a remote, deep cave in the middle of nowhere, in Scotland. They walked into the cave for two hours, ten kilometres that went underground, to the point where they had to walk bending. There, they left the two bags aside and both women started caving a deep hole, in silence, concentrated. They caved and caved despite exhaustion, until the hole was over three metres deep, and they threw one of the bags inside. The other was opened and a huge, heavy, bottle of sulphuric acid was pulled out. One of the women put a mask on and carefully poured the corrosive acid on the bag, making sure not to breathe in. The other woman distanced herself and also covered her face, and once that was done and the acid had eliminated most of the human remains, they very carefully poured gasoline onto it all and, again making sure not to breathe anything, with their faces hidden with masks and protective scarves, their eyes behind snow glasses and their hands thickly gloved with special gloves to manipulate delicate materials as such, the taller of the two women set the whole thing on fire.

The women undid their steps and walked back to run from the smoke for a few metres, until they could breathe mostly fine. After giving it twenty minutes, they pulled small portable fire-extinguishers from the bags and returned, extinguishing the fire before carefully putting all the removed soil on top of the hole, until the ground looked mostly normal. The entire time, they had to use torches to see, so they really made sure the fact that they had buried remains there wasn't noticeable. At last, they returned to the blizzard, struggling in the snow until they reached the Land Rover hidden beneath huge trees. They removed gloves, hats and masks, throwing the bags into the boot before starting the engine.

It was incredibly hard to drive with the blizzard and the -6ºC making visibility really difficult. A 30-year-old brunette drove calmly, every now and then looking at her companion, 35-years-old and also brunette, although with blonde highlights that made her look almost completely blonde.

“They'll never find us, right?” the brunette asked, needing to be reassured.

“Alex,” said the other woman calmly, “we are detectives. We've caught criminals not even the police could catch. We've been planning this for years. No one will ever find him, and even if they did, there is no way to prove we did it. We left zero evidence, I'm sure.”

“I know,” Ali nodded, her brown tiger eyes fixed on the road. “It's just... I've never killed anyone before. Or helped anyone kill someone.”

“Are you okay?” hazel eyes fixed on her profile with worry, but also with care.

“Yes, yes, we did the right thing. He had to die. Are you okay, though?”

“Why wouldn't I be?”

“He was your father, Ashlyn. Maybe not your Dad, but at least your father.”

“And he deserved what he got,” said Ashlyn simply. She was a ball of emotions inside, but guilt wasn't one of them. Relief predominated. “Did you see the look in his eyes as I injected the air into his aorta? As he panicked realizing he was going to die and he couldn't do anything about it, and the more he panicked the faster his heart beat and the more he asphyxiated... it was very satisfying.”

64 months ago, when they had met, it would've given Ali chills to hear her friend talk about committing a murder with so much joy. But in the last five years they had discovered Curtis Harris had sexually abused his daughter for a year, leading to a level of mental and psychological trauma hard to describe, and causing her a pregnancy. He had then taken her somewhere and forced her to abort, as he had confessed in the last 48h, tying her to a bed and forcing her to breathe morphine, and the damage the illegal surgeons had caused had been such that in the last three years and a half Ashlyn had had up to three surgeries to try to repair the scarring of her uterus. She now had a semi-normal period cycle, but her chances of conception were very low.

Those discoveries, together with the growing affection between the two women, made Ali not cringe or feel afraid now. Ashlyn was her best friend in the world, and she knew she was a good person, a remarkable one in fact. But in five years of pursuing criminals and truly bad people, she had gotten to understand good people weren't people who necessarily always acted accordingly to the law. Good people were those that put everyone else's well-being over their own, who punished the devil, and thrived to be kind and compassionate. Ashlyn had pretty much condemned herself to hell with this, set her soul in flames, became scarier, but she had done so because justice had left a dangerous man out there free. In the end, all superheroes kill, some of them very cruelly, so Ali didn't see why she should think any less of the woman.

The drive to Dumfries, South Scotland, took them almost eight hours with the weather. Ali patiently drove them all, at times turning with Ashlyn for short periods of time, but driving herself most of it. At last, while the blizzard turned into a heavy rain, they made it to a small motel in Dumfries and, after parking properly, rushed under the rain to the motel.

“One room,” Ali said to the receptionist, handing her a few bank notes, “two double beds. Thank you.”

“Have a good day,” Ashlyn smiled at the lady and followed Ali up to their room. “You want to shower?”

“You go first,” said Ali, turning the chimney on with expertise in a matter of minutes. They had researched hotels with a fireplace on purpose. While Ashlyn showered, Ali burned the latex gloves and the masks, the bottles having been thrown with the body and burned to ashes before. She watched as the objects turned to ashes and breathed out in relief, satisfied.

There was a good sense of accomplishment when something you had been planning on for two years, Ashlyn five, was finally done and turned-out to be easier than expected. The weather, that they hadn't been able to control, had made tasks a little harsher than planned, but ultimately would help them cover their backs, pass unseen. It was perfect.

“Your turn,” Ashlyn emerged from the bathroom, as usual taking her breath away. She had put on her pyjamas in the bathroom, but her nipples marked through the cotton t-shirt, her hair still humid and pointing all directions, as it was only as long as it took to cover the back and sides of her neck and brush her shoulders.

When Ali emerged from the bathroom half an hour later, after an intense scrub, in her pyjamas, she found Ashlyn lying _The Talents of Mr Ripley_ while lying on the bed. Ali lied in her own bed, and observed the woman with a small smile.

“Has anyone ever commented you're a total creep?” Ashlyn asked with a chuckle, and Ali laughed.

“I can't wait to spend Christmas with you,” said Ali sincerely. Ashlyn put her book aside and left her bed to slide under Ali's duvet, not for the first time. Ali smiled and rolled on her side, turning her back on her, so Ashlyn wrapped her strong arms around her and snuggled against her back, hugging her close.

“Promise you'll stay with me forever.”

“I always do,” Ali replied, interlacing their fingers over her sternum, where Ashlyn could feel her beating heart. “Forever.”

Anybody would agree that their relationship was borderline romance. They admitted it, but never out-loud. Truth was, they liked their hybrid between romance and friendship more and more, and in the last year and a half, none of them had dated anyone. They silently waited, with the comfort of feeling their feelings were returned, and they just had to wait for the right moment. In silence they agreed that Curtis' death had to happen before anything else, and now, as a new sense of freedom enveloped them, they hugged, loving as lovers, but neither of them daring to disturb their calm ocean by pursuing anything else just yet. Right now, it wasn't the time. They knew. And they knew the other would wait.

Ali's marriage annulment was now four years old. She hadn't spoken a word to her ex-husband since, although she sometimes saw him around their town, Masham, but ignored his existence. He had remarried to his long-time lover, Evannah, and had triplet daughters with her. She could tell he didn't like that much, as he looked more stressed and sleep-deprived every time she saw him, but this neither pleasured her or affected her in any other way, signalling what went on with his life really didn't matter to her anymore.

Now, there were many other people who had found a secure place in Ali's heart and that mattered the world to her. Not only the group of good friends she had made through Ashlyn, but also her brother-in-law, Dylan, who treated Kyle like he was the most important thing in the world, and Ashlyn's family, with whom she lately had spent several weeks every summer for the past few years, as well as visiting during other holidays, more briefly. She had attended Ashlyn's grandfather's funeral the summer before, sent a present to her grandmother every year, and was Porter, Raya and Jenson's newest aunty. Jenson was now eight, while Raya was seven and Porter was six. They were the children of Corey Habovick and Kyle Habovick, two of Ashlyn's cousins, one father of two and the other of one. And now more recently they were the aunties of Chloe Ellacott, their friends Nick and Whitney's one-year-old daughter.

As she closed her eyes, feeling Ashlyn's steady breathing against her back, Ali thought of what they had done. Of how they had paid a whore to lure the guy away, a year after he had been let go freely from prison, when his year of parole had ended and he was finally free, and then once they had him where they wanted him, Ashlyn had handcuffed him to a chair and beaten him up without him having any possibilities to defend himself, right like Tammye or herself hadn't had any.

Ali's mother would've been horrified if she knew how Ali had merely kept Curtis' mouth shut as Ashlyn made him scream properly during hours and hours, taking his skin away at times, others entertaining by kicking his balls. At last, when she had felt satisfied, she had used her medical knowledge to cause him the embolism that would slowly cause him to asphyxiate until he was dead.

“Alex?” Ashlyn's raspy voice came suddenly. “You there?”

“I'm right here,” Ali squeezed her hand, and felt her nod against her back. “Sleep, I'm here.”

She knew Ashlyn hadn't gone this far without any weight of conscience. That it would hurt her, not because it was Curtis, but because it was a life, but that to her it would be like killing a dying man, one last brutal act to end all the pain and work her way up from here. And the secret would unite them like nothing before. When, late in 2013, Ali had discovered Ashlyn had a very serious plan of killing her father, she had first been horrified by its details, and by Ashlyn's inhuman lack of remorse, fear or nervousness, but she hadn't betrayed her. She knew no one, not even their families and best friends, could know. And then she had decided to join her. She had simply told Ashlyn;

“We're partners. If one of us wants to do something crazy and incredibly risky, she's not doing it alone.”

It had amazed Ashlyn to see Ali, always the most sensitive about things, the woman who at first couldn't even joke with receiving a leg, willing to do anything to help her. Ali hadn't even cried or tried to stop her at any point, not even when Ashlyn's plans got crueller and crueller, and far beyond Ali's ethic code. But the brunette had a new ethic code; you mess with my family, and I will make you pay. It didn't matter that at night, it started affecting their rest. After all, it affected superheroes too, to do something questionably terrible, but to have no chance because the alternative was letting a very dangerous person go. They weren't psychopaths so of course they felt. Of course both were tempted to stop, to have mercy, when Curtis begged and cried, of course it hurt to go through that experience, but now they had each other to help them sleep. They had had, since sleep became worse years ago, particularly for Ashlyn, who stopped being able to sleep properly the moment she had found out what Curtis did.

“I trusted you,” Ashlyn had told her father, with tears in her eyes, as she ripped off one of his fingers after he had admitted and given further detail on all he had done. “You were my Dad. I trusted you and you betrayed me, Curtis. You tied me to a bed with no anaesthesia and made them rip off something from my uterus. Do you know the panic I feel now entering hospitals? Trying to seek the help I need? You fucking bastard... you took away even my ability to seek help. You wanted me screwed for life. All that's rotten in me is because of you. Everything.”

They had to be calm, they had to be quiet, they could not raise suspicion. And Ali knew, as she closed her eyes, that they had done it. Perhaps not the perfect crime, but one of the millions of cases that had never been closed in history, one of those things no one, even if they found him, would be able to pin on them.

So when Ashlyn agitated and cried in her sleep, calling for her mother, Ali hugged her tightly, and as she thought of all the cruelty Tammye, Christopher and Ashlyn had gone through, she promised herself she'd always take care of Ashlyn. She would love Ashlyn truly, until she had no doubts what true love felt like. Until she was happy and fulfilled and smiling again, and falling asleep peacefully between her arms. And she'd never stop.

  
  



	2. Christmas

**Chapter 2: Christmas.**

Twenty-three days after Curtis Harris' murder, his only descendant, Private Detective Ashlyn Harris, was checking all the security cameras between her flat and the office below, making sure they were connected and ready. Ali meanwhile closed the office one last time, putting a big note on the door.

_'KRIEGER & HARRIS PRIVATE INVESTIGATIONS WILL BE CLOSED FOR THE HOLIDAYS_

_We will be available by phone all days except Sundays, Christmas Day, the 31_ _st_ _of December and the 1_ _st_ _of January. We will be back at the office on Monday, January 4_ _th_ _2016, with the regular schedule._

_Thank you and Merry Christmas & Happy New Year!_

_Private Detectives A. Harris & A. Krieger.'_

Ali couldn't help but grin as she reread the note she had carefully typed, closing the four locks their office now had while Ashlyn lowered their suitcases and bags to the landing. As Kyle and Dylan had their own lovenest now in London, and Christen and Tobin were living together and getting very serious, living together with those friends was no longer a good alternative. But for the past eight months she had moved in with Ashlyn, and they both felt that was homey. That was a good decision.

“Are we leaving now?” Ashlyn asked her from the floor below. “It's all ready.”

“Coming!” Ali rushed downstairs and grinned at Ashlyn before taking her hand and walking with her down the rest of the stairs. They held hands a lot, now. They closeness has happened fast and naturally, with none of them ever feeling weird about it. In fact, what felt odd was when anyone else tried that closeness with them, except if that person was one of their closest, married friends.

As usual, Ali was more than excited about driving north to her family in Masham herself. Kyle's future husband turned-out to be a Mashamer as well, someone he had gone to school with but never had anything with until decades later, when they had casually met in London and found themselves automatically drawn to each other. So both men would be in Yorkshire, and that made the girls excited. Ali had also, for the first time, told her mother that she and Ashlyn would be sharing a bed, because it helped the older woman sleep. She avoided mentioning that it also helped Ali sleep, and she made it sound as casual as possible. She had a story for it; when she had moved with Ashlyn she had realized just how difficult nights were for the senior detective, and she had tentatively joined her on the sofa, where Ashlyn insisted to sleep to let her have the bed. As Ashlyn's slept improved, Ali convinced her to both sleep on her bed, and it had been like that since. They sometimes still slept separately, but only if it could be done in the same room.

The city hustle was left behind as they entered the green, large expanses of country, and the more they drove north, the more it became freckled with white, until at last, all there was were thick layers of snow while a light snowfall fell over their heads. But Ali drove filled with her usual confidence and at least, her car turned into the Alongi household, from where smoke came indicating a chimney lightened-on.

“It's so great to see you, Ash!” Debbie grinned, hugging Ashlyn tightly so her face buried momentarily in the long white hair.

“I love being here,” Ashlyn assured her with a chuckle.

Kyle, Dyan, Ashlyn, Ali, Debbie, Mike, Kenneth and Kenneth's wife sat for dinner around the large dining table, sharing laughed and a climax of pure joy. Everyone was wearing Christmassy stuff, because it would be Christmas when morning came. That night, Ali had prepared a surprise for Ashlyn, knowing how shitty Christmas usually was for her. She took her riding the family Clydesdales after dinner, with bags full of torches and all that was necessary when you went out into the dark in a snowy day.

“Why are you so crazy?” Ashlyn asked Ali into the freezing night. “Is this how I die? Are you going to murder me?”

“Maybe,” Ali grinned at her, and using torches, she guided her to a big building in the middle of the dark countryside. She hopped off the horse, and so did Ashlyn, securing both horses in a sheltered area under some big trees before walking with her inside the building.

“What is this? Are we breaking into houses now?” Ashlyn whispered, excited nevertheless.

“No,” Ali chuckled. “It's the observatory. The astronomer who directs it is my Godfather.”

“Oh, for real?” Ali wiggled the keys in her hand as they climbed up long circle stairs, carefully.

“I asked him to do me a favour, and...”

Ali pulled Ashlyn into a small room, where there was a cupola where the Universe could be seen. Ashlyn's jaw dropped as Ali, following her godfather's instructions, pushed the right buttons and showed Ashlyn the sky above them in high details. They could see some shooting stars flying, satellites, even some planets a little small, and Ashlyn was fascinated.

“Jesus, Al... this is awesome.”

“My godfather has taken me since I was a child, telling me how to use the telescope and all... It's amazing, isn't it?”

“Completely,” Ashlyn grinned at the sky.

“Make a wish,” Ali said, hugging her from behind.

Ashlyn turned around slowly between her arms until she faced her.

“I only wish for December to stop being the reminder of all the bad things... to fill it with good memories.” Ali grinned.

“Your wish is my command.”

Ali moved slow, afraid that Ashlyn would slap her away, and cupped her face with her hands gently, tiptoeing and seeing how Ashlyn's darkened eyes fixed on her lips before Ali finally kissed her. It was the kiss they had been longing for, yet at first they took things calmly, kissing timidly, their soft, warm lips pressing with shyness, before the kiss intensified, their arms squeezed each other closer, and they abandoned themselves to each other.

**. . .**

On Christmas Day, Ashlyn woke up to little kisses peppering up her shoulder and neck, until they pressed insistently against Ashlyn's lips until she kissed back and opened her eyes, seeing Ali grinning widely at her, caressing her face.

“Merry Christmas,” Ali said cupping her face before kissing her once more.

“Merry Christmas, gorge,” Ashlyn put her arms around her, rolling her on top of Ashlyn. She wouldn't usually fancy someone on top, but with Ali she found she didn't care. Eyeing the door to make sure it was locked, Ashlyn lifted her hips a little to make sure their chores pressed together, eliciting a moan.

“You're too tempting,” Ali gave her an open-mouthed kiss. “But we need to get up. Not without me giving you, your present, though.”

“I thought I was getting it,” Ashlyn pressed her pubis more to Ali's and she moaned.

“You naughty,” Ali kissed her and slid out of bed, putting her house robe on and closing it under Ashlyn's attentive gaze. Ali walked to one of her suitcases and pulled out what seemed like a book wrapped-up in Christmas paper.

“I thought all the presents were under the tree?” Ashlyn asked.

“Oh yeah,” Ali nodded. “But seeing how things turned-out, I slid out of bed during the night and took this one and the one you gave me so we could open this morning and give proper thank yous.”

Ashlyn chuckled, taking the present as she sat on the bed.

“ _You_ naughty! How did you know which one was mine to you?” Ashlyn asked as she saw Ali take her own gift from the desk, where she had left it.

“Because I saw a roll of this wrapping paper by your desk.”

Ali's present was much smaller, but she waited for Ashlyn to open hers first. Ashlyn smiled and unwrapped her present, seeing it was a huge photo album, the size of a big book. Ashlyn opened the dark brown, fancy cover, and saw that Ali had written something on the white page there, scribbling with a blue pen.

_Our memory has a funny way of playing tricks on us so the dark days remain over the good ones. So here's a reminder and proof of all those good days, for when memory fails you, for when it feels like you're all alone, for when life sucks._

_You are so loved, Ashlyn Harris, and by so many <3_

_Alex xoxo_

Ashlyn grinned and, under Ali's attentive gaze, she started passing the photographs, getting emotional very quickly. First there were pictures of Ashlyn's childhood, but only good moments. Smiles and snuggles with her mother and brother, playing skate or football, being naughty children with Christopher, Whitney or Dave, getting prizes. Then there were her teenage years, where her friends played a bigger part, mostly Whitney and Dave. But then she grew-up in her twenties, surrounded by Abby, Rapinoe, Tobin, and all the friends she had made along the way. Photographs of her naval accomplishments, of her in different ships and boats, surfing even, and being a little happier. The last part were the last few years, and Ali's family made a big apparition. Cleaning horses with Debbie, hugging Kyle, playing basketball with Kenneth, laughing with Ali, photographs of the best front pages they had belonged to, and of their work at the office, sneaky photos Ali took of her working or laughing, photographs with their common group of friends in London, happy, loving, caring.

In the end, Ashlyn's eyes were filled with tears and she looked up at Ali.

“I love you, Ali Krieger. I truly do love you.” Ali beamed and leaned to kiss her.

“I love you too.” They kissed for a while and then Ashlyn impatiently tapped her thigh.

“Open your present.”

Ali's present looked like a book as well, but smaller. Ali unwrapped it and her jaw fell seeing it was a framed painting of St. Mawes. Below, the initials T. J. H.

“I can't accept this, Ash, it's your Mums...”

“But I want you to have it,” said Ashlyn, looking at the beautiful, colourful painting. “Mum made it from Uncle James' sailing ship, and it quickly became her favourite. I've had it hidden in a drawer for a long time, fearing someone might steal it, but now... I think you should have it. So even when you're far from St. Mawes, St. Mawes is not far from you.”

Ali looked emotionally at Ashlyn, then hugged her tightly, and Ashlyn hugged her back.

“I wish I had met her. I wish I could thank her personally.”

“She would've loved you,” Ashlyn said, kissing the top of her head. “So I know she would've been happy with this.”

“I love this,” Ali grinned looking at the painting. “Thank you.”

“I've also got news for you. Remember how we've been talking about needing a bigger office for a long while?” Ashlyn inquired. “So we would be able to have our own office each, a couple of assistants and maybe a third detective coming in, now that you're fully licensed?”

“Yeah...”

Ashlyn grinned and jumped off the bed, putting on her boxers before going to her own suitcase. After rummaging for a few moments, she pulled a folder she handed to Ali. There, on the first page, was a photograph of a corner building, stood on top of a small yellow bakery and a blue-grey small commercial building of a masseuse. The building divided crossed Tavistock Street with Catherine Street, and was four storeys plus ground floor of thin dark brown brick with white-framed windows, six per storey. The last storey, the fourth, was attic-like, as Ashlyn's flat, so the windows seemed to emerge from the roof.

Underneath, Ali read '42 TAVISTOCK STREET, COVENT GARDEN LONDON'. Ali passed the pages, seeing it was a brochure of storeys three and four. The third was a large reception with not one bur three sofas forming an 'u' around a coffee table, next to the large reception desk, with a small corridor leading to a kitchenette with a table to eat and all, and a small bathroom, and then the fourth storey was smaller, one toilet and four rooms, three inner offices being three of them, and another being a small meetings room.

The two storeys were connected by a lift a stairwell from the building's hall.

“Ashlyn, we cannot afford this...”

“We already did. I bought the top two storeys, I bought some furniture... took the photographs myself. I've been planning this for months, after all the huge cases we've been having. I know you would've liked to make the decisions with me, but... I really wanted to surprise you, Ali. Which leads to my second gift.” Ashlyn had also taken something else from the suitcase, and passed Ali a small velvet box, rectangular. Out of it, Ali pulled a metallic plaque that said 'A. B. KRIEGER' and underneath, slightly smaller, 'PRIVATE DETECTIVE'. Ali gasped and beamed big. “For the door of your new office, right?”

“Ashlyn, I...” Ali beamed at her, hugging her tight. “God, I really do love you.” Ashlyn grinned back at her, and they kissed, forgetting the presents for a moment. When they separated, Ali put her presents down on the bed and held her close. “But what about Denmark Street?”

“I made a deal with the building owner and bought the office and my attic together as one unit, and once we move to Tavistock, I'm planning on unifying both and making myself a two-storey flat. I've got money, like I said, we took so many huge, famous cases these few years that paid well... that politics' scandal for example. So I did the Math, and I can afford it. That way, we'll have a bigger place for you and I. We'll have to vacate it during the constructions, get in Kyle and Dylan's guest room for a while, but... it's going to be so worth it when it's over, Alex. And we'll decorate it together, paint it together... we'll make it our own place, right where we first met. If you want, of course.”

“God Ash, of course I want it!” Ali beamed. “I want everything with you.”

There was a strong knock on the door and Ali startled.

“COME ON LOVEBIRDS, LET'S OPEN PRESENTS!!!” Kyle shouted, and Ali and Ashlyn laughed, wrapped in each other.


	3. Valentines

**Chapter 3: Valentines.**

When St. Valentine's Day came, Ashlyn and Ali had been dating for nearly a month and a half, and had successfully changed offices to move to Tavistock. Back in Denmark, everything had been emptied out, the furniture that would be for the new flat provisionally stored at Nick and Whitney's, and constructions had started to unite both storeys. After a bunch of bureaucracy and speaking with the building owner and with the only other worker in the building, Ashlyn had acquired permission to make, as long as she paid for it out of her own pocket, larger constructions so that the building as a whole moved to have one storey less, as the entire attic floor would belong to Ashlyn's new two-storey flat. What they would do is that the office's store would be the final one, with the lift button to the next storey only working with a key Ashlyn would have, so that major constructions to close the lift upstairs wouldn't be necessary. Ashlyn's flat would absorb the last stop of the lift, and that would come in handy if she ever needed another leg surgery, making her entire flat accessible for disabled.

Another change in the building would be that the very small part of hall where the start of the stretch of circular stairs to the attic storey would be incorporated into the flat too, as well as that last stretch of stairs, so the public could only go as far as to the current office door, that would become the new entry to the flat. Ashlyn, who enjoyed artistic and creative work, had worked for months with an architect recommended by a close friend, do design the new two-storey flat.

The flat would be entered from the same place as the office had all those years, leading into a small hall with access to the stairs to go upstairs and the birdcage lift, that for extra security, would have a lock with a key to make sure no one entered their flat through some trick in the lift. Then the hall would lead into a small spare room & office with two windows towards Denmark Street, and through its left, the hall would lead into a living-dining room, medium-sized room with windows to the tiny patio that separated from the building behind. Through the living-dining room it'd be possible to access a tiny toilet in the middle of the storey, and a small kitchen with one window to Denmark Street. Then the storey above would be entered through either the birdcage lift or the stairs, and it was a smaller storey because the roof got inclined in its front and back, forming just a few dormer windows with window benches, but a roof too low to put nothing much. Because of this, when accessing it there was only a small corridor that led to two bedrooms, both of them with windows to Denmark Street, both only big enough for a double bed and very little furniture, and then in the middle, a shared, medium-sized bathroom. It wouldn't be a too modern flat. Ashlyn was going to use the furniture she already had and all else would be gifts, donations or second-hand, keeping furnishing to a minimum and keeping things humble, as the constructions were expensive enough.

And then there was their new office in Tavistock Street, where they had new employees. Abby Wambach had been promoted to superintendent, while Detective Inspector Sydney Dwyer was her most trusted DI. Both had become close friends of Ashlyn and Ali, with Ashlyn uniting Abby and Sydney and Ali, who had became friends with Sydney while nursing her marriage annulment, and lived with her for a short period of time during this time, had united her to Ashlyn. Both women had recommended Ashlyn some people and now Ashlyn's long-time friend Megan Rapinoe was their junior detective, because she had never been a SIB, just a Navy, and knew nothing of detective work, into which they introduced her. This required two secretaries slash assistants, a job that was confided to the beautiful Alex Morgan, friend of Rapinoe who had been a football player in her teens only to retire and study administration of business, and Crystal Dunn, who had studied public relationships. Both women were in their late twenties and happily married, Alex to a footballer named Servando Carrasco, and Crystal to a doctor named Pierre Soubrier, so they wouldn't go around flirting with clients.

The group of five women quickly got along and proved to be great to work together. Crystal devoted more to treating clients and doing paperwork, while Alex took care of the bigger administrative work and assisting Megan on her cases. Megan would take care of lower-profile cases and Ashlyn and Ali would together or individually, depending on the size of the case, take care of high-profile cases, helping each other. When there weren't high profile cases, they'd do whatever there was to do. Because the agency was renamed 'Krieger & Harris Investigations' several years before, the two original employees were keen on taking the most work, being leaders by example, and they even checked the numbers after Alex every two weeks, to ensure it all went well.

But on Valentine's Day, it was Sunday and not even they would step in the office.

“Happy Valentine's, love,” Ashlyn smiled, rolling over Ali in bed and kissing her all over the face. They were currently staying at Nick and Dylan, and the other couple's love-making had awoken her.

“Happy Valentine's,” Ali grinned against her lips, putting her arms around her. Their kiss broke as Kyle moaned particularly loud and Ali blushed. “Please take me out of here.”

“No worries,” Ashlyn pecked her lips again. “I planned us a whole romance day. Pack a bag, we're going to the spa!”

Both women packed backpacks with bathing suits and everything they'd need and quickly got out of the house trying to forget the noises they had heard. Ashlyn looked ten years younger, holding Ali's hand in hers and beaming big at her, happy to have her by her side.

After a full day of spa with massages and swimming pool, romantic date in a restaurant, Ashlyn had booked a room in a five stars hotel just for them. She took Ali up in her arms bride-style and, as the brunette laughed at her antics, opened the door to show her a canopy king-size bed, with a table where a tray with two tall glasses rested next to an expensive bottle of Vermouth.

“Wow,” Ali's jaw dropped as she kept an arm around Ashlyn's shoulders to hold herself, grinning at what she saw. “Wow!”

“You like it, Alex? It's all for you,” Ashlyn said sweetly, kissing her cheek.

“I love it, but you didn't have to do all of this,” Ali stood on her feet, and opened the Vermouth bottle with an opener that was right next to it on the wooden surface. “I would've been perfectly happy with a film and sofa snuggles.”

“I don't doubt it,” Ashlyn put their bags aside and locked the room before taking the glass Ali had filled for her. “I still love to pamper you, though. Cheers to us!”

“To us,” Ali grinned and sipped her drink, humming in approval. “I'm so lucky.” She added, caressing Ashlyn's face softly. “So, so lucky.” Ashlyn's hazel eyes looked lovingly at her and she smiled timidly.

“You deserve someone who enhances your life, Alex,” said Ashlyn. “Not someone who makes you happy; you should make yourself happy. But someone who is the icing on top of the cake, who serves as the world's way of saying thank you for being here and being awesome, here's a little something as a show of gratitude, you know? And I love that the stars trusted me to be that person. To love you, to protect you, to make you smile, to give you all that you deserve... I think I am the lucky one.”

Ali's heart accelerated at her romanticism. There they were, standing face to face, walls down, wearing simple post-pool clothes, their hairs still messy and humid, their coats still on, telling each other how happy they were to be in the same world at the same time the other was. Ali set her glass aside and put her arms around Ashlyn's neck.

“You know you're the only one so far who hasn't inquired on whether I'm bisexual or not?” Ashlyn shrugged.

“All I care to know is that you love me, it doesn't matter if you ever loved a man before me or whoever else. I mean, with our age, we're doomed to have quite the past, right? But who cares about it when all that matters is this perfect present?”

“You're so right. I love you,” Ali kissed her softly, breaking into smile as their noses brushed and she separated a little. “Isn't it crazy we're already in love?”

“After all the time it's been since we met? The only crazy thing here is that we took so long to say,” Ashlyn put her glass aside and buried a hand in her dark hair before pressing their lips together more insistently. After quite the make-out session, Ali separated, having caught glimpse of a vinyl disc player.

“Oh! Let's dance!” she rushed to the vinyl discs, trying to find one that spoke more to her. Ashlyn smiled sweetly at her, sipping from her glass before walking to her and hugging her from behind, relishing on the feeling of their bodies pressed together.

Ali selected Elton John's classic 'Your song' and beamed at Ashlyn as the music started, taking their coats off and throwing them aside before putting her arms around Ashlyn's neck to dance. Ashlyn smiled back at her.

“Allow me,” Ashlyn said, taking one of her hands in her own and elegantly leading the dance, spinning around the room as if they were weightless dancing on clouds. Ali grinned bigger seeing her hidden talents and enjoyed the dance. “Oh, I love this song!”

“Me too!”

“You know what's the best of it?” Ashlyn commented. “It doesn't really make much sense. Just like love is like... it's just a crazy blurt-out of ideas and feelings without really much connection like... when it says—,”

“But these things I do, you see I've forgotten if they're green or they're blue,” Ali beamed the answer, and Ashlyn grinned back and nodded, spinning then around time after time in a silly, free dance.

“I hope you don't mind, I hope you don't mind...”

“That I put down in words...”

“How wonderful life is, while you're in the world,” they said at once, leaning forward to press their lips together full of love.

Next Ashlyn knew, she was waking up with the sun hitting her face through the windows, her cheek against Ali's chest while the brunette played with her wavy hair and peppered kisses on top of her head every now and then, while her other hand rested on Ashlyn's arm across her belly. She had acquired a couple extra tattoos since they met, and Ali loved to trace her arm sleeve with her fingers.

“Good morning,” Ashlyn pressed her lips against Ali's chest before rolling over the brunette and snuggling further.

“Hi you,” Ali grinned, putting her arms around her and snuggling her close. She knew Ashlyn needed a few moments in the morning to accept the sleeping time was over and she was doomed to start a new day, and a little bit of extra snuggle time would be enough to get her to jump out of bed and start the day happily. “Have I mentioned how much I love mornings with you?” she sniggered as Ashlyn groaned. Ali looked at the bracelet in her wrist, a gift Ashlyn had made her four and a half years before and she had very rarely removed, and only if she was risking it getting damaged.

“You're so warm and soft,” Ashlyn rubbed her cheek against her. “You smell so nice...” Ali chuckled, kissing the top of her head and holding her closer. Then her mobile rang and Ashlyn groaned more. “No... don't move...”

“Baby I have to, it's Monday, what if it's a client?”

“Fuck off clients.”

“What if Kyle needs me?” after a moment of hesitation, Ashlyn puffed and rolled over. Ali smiled and rushed to get her phone from her backpack. It was an unknown number. “Ali Krieger, who is this? Right, hi...” Ashlyn sensed her tone get serious and looked up with her sleepy face. Ali stood there, as she was brought into the world, the phone pressed against her ear and an expression of tension, her free hand on her chest. “What do you mean he's escaped? When?” Ali's expression turned more anxious and Ashlyn was quickly out of bed, putting a hand on her shoulder. Ali looked at her with anguish. “I will do it through Superintendent Abigail Wambach if that's okay? I'm not living at my place right now. Okay, thank you, bye.” She let out a shaky breath and looked at Ashlyn with glassy eyes. “Donald Trewin escaped prison.”

It took a second for the name to register. He was the man who, at twenty-two, had gone and attempted to rape nineteen-year-old Ali at the start of her second year in Oxford University, nearly twelve years before, settling with attempting to kill her instead. Ali's evidence had sentenced him for life, as he had also raped other girls, one of them a minor.

“He has escaped?” Ashlyn scowled. “I thought he was in high security.”

“They're still investigating, but apparently there was a riot last night and a fire, and a few inmates ran out. Trewin and a couple more. He used to be all the way in Frankland, but it was too close to Masham, where I was living, so it was decided to move him to Long Lartin, which is, what? Two and a half hours from here? He could already be here, looking for me after I put him in pris—,”

“Alex, sh...” Ashlyn sensed her panicking and put two hands on her, one on each shoulder. “You are safe. Your family is safe. He's not gone through all the trouble of getting out of prison just to get himself back in seconds, he knows coming after you and your family is far too risky. And even if he managed to put a foot near you, I'd kill him before he could touch you.”

“I'm more scared about him touching someone I love. Kyle, Dylan, they live here too. Our friends, think about Chloe, and if he goes up to Masham... police won't get there in time, Ash. It's too in the middle of nowhere.” Ashlyn nodded slowly.

“Then it's a matter of finding him before he finds you,” Ashlyn resolved. “And warning everybody we know. Showing his photograph around. I will tell Dominic Culpepper to put this on the front page of _The Sun_ , and we can find a picture of Trewin and include a good description by you, make things harder for him. You call Abby. Tell her the addresses of you and your family, and I'll worry about our friends.”

Ali nodded tensely, and watched as Ashlyn quickly got dressed. She feared the most that Ashlyn would get hurt because of her, but this, she didn't say.

  
  



	4. Preparations

**Chapter 4: Preparations.**

As usual, Ashlyn wore a waistcoat closed over a plain-coloured shirt buttoned up entirely save for the first couple buttons to work, but this time she entered the office with an air of anxiety and holding Ali's hand tightly.

“Agency meeting in ten!” Ashlyn shouted across the office, going to the kitchenette slash meeting room as she pulled from Ali. She had a plan.

“Ash, we cannot involve the entire agency in this,” Ali whispered anxiously as Ashlyn let her go to prepare tea for everyone.

“We have to,” said Ashlyn. “That guy tried to _kill_ you, Alex. Any precaution seems little.”

Slowly, as the women finished their tasks, they entered the same room until Rapinoe, Crystal and Alex all sat around the small oval table with their mugs of tea.

“So what is it?” asked Rapinoe casually. They rarely held meetings, but when they did, they were usually short and tranquil, drinking tea and doing team work.

“Donald Trewin,” said Ashlyn, “forty-four, natural from Wales. On September 2004, he raped two young girls around Oxford University, one of them a minor, and then he attempted to rape a third student, someone who fought back so he tried to kill her. Her evidence got him put away for life, but he, along with a few other class A inmates, just escaped from HMP Long Lartin, which is not too far from London. I want it to be the agency's priority to find him, even at the cost of minor cases. We find him, help the police in any way we can to do so, and turn him in to them.”

“Not that I'm against catching bloody rapists, but,” said Megan Rapinoe, “since when do we meddle into the Met's job if it's not for money or because we get shoved in?”

“This is an exception,” said Ashlyn, “because Trewin is a personal matter to us.”

“I was the third victim,” Ali blurted out, biting her lip so hard it turned white. Their friends and colleagues immediately turned to her, shocked. “I put him away. And now I'm afraid he'll try to finish what he started and either kill me or anyone I love.”

“In that case, it's our business too,” said Alex Morgan, and the others nodded in agreement. “Where do we start?”

“I've phoned Abby, they've put extra security in the neighbourhood, and a plain-clothes by Kyle's place. Alex, I want you researching on Trewin's friends, schoolmates, anyone who might know where he is. Rapinoe, you do family. Crystal, places. Anywhere that was important, perhaps work places or cities he might've frequented. I guess checking if he has any social media he probably talks about places and all. Ali, you and I are going on a trip to Long Lartin, and we're going to see what the other inmates know.”

The drive to the prison was barely a few minutes over two hours. After Ali's Land Rover had finally succumbed to its age, Ashlyn had acquired a BMW SUV, not a brand new model, but not too old either, afforded thanks to their one-before-last big case, involving politicians and a nice amount of money. Although very often Ali was its driver, this time Ashlyn drove it calmly, with Ali nervously trying not to chew her nails. Abby had gotten them a permit to go and explore, telling the prison director that they were aiding police, because inmates may be more willing to talk with civilians than with cops.

“It's gonna be okay,” Ashlyn assured Ali, seeing her nerves. “He's not here.”

“I know, but everyone there are murderers and rapists, Ash. How calm am I supposed to be?”

Ashlyn, eyes kept on the road, took Ali's hand and brought it to her lips.

“I'll never let anything happen to you. Never.”

“I don't want anything to happen to you either.” Ashlyn smirked and nodded, kissing the back of her hand once more.

“Don't worry too much, love. We're badass women. We've got this.”

They drove towards Worcestershire and at one point it was all green hills with two or three houses along the way. Ali looked around anxiously as Ashlyn parked in a lot and they exited the vehicle.

“I've never visited a prison before,” Ali confessed as they walked side-by-side through the parking lot and towards the small buildings behind which the prison entry hid. The prison was only about a couple storeys tall, so with the other buildings and the tall bushes that formed large walls, it was hard to see until you arrived.

“There's a first time for everything, I suppose. Stick to me and don't come too close to a prisoner, okay? And don't be nervous, there will be a lot of police there to watch out for us.”

After checking their credentials and going through security arches, leaving their belongings behind, they were guided by the guards through large sad corridors with empty cells at both sides. All the prisoners were in the patio currently, but police had taken into a separate room the very few who had agreed to talk with the detective, in order to earn points with the judges of their cases and get early parole. Ashlyn and Ali were taken to a small office where the director of the prison and a couple guards were.

“Nice to meet you both,” said the moustached director, shaking hands with them, “Superintendent Wambach has said wonders about you. We're very sorry the prisoners escaped, but we'll do all it takes to bring them back where they belong.”

“So how are we doing this?” Ali inquired.

“They'll bring them one by one and we'll talk here, before they're returned to the patio.

The first inmate was a bald guy thin as a pencil, with a small dark goatee. He sat there with an unfriendly expression, two guards behind him and wrists handcuffed to the fixed table.

“Hello, Lenny,” Ashlyn greeted him with a smile. Ali was always marvelled by her peculiar interrogation techniques. “Do you know where your mates have gone?”

“No,” said Lenny, the inmate.

“Any idea whether they were together in this?”

“We're all together in this. We all wanted to leave this hell hole,” Lenny grumbled, fearlessly locking eyes with Ashlyn. “But once you're out, I don't know. You have to remember if you go in one same team, you're teaming with very dangerous guys, although some people have no choice.”

“What about Trewin? Did he have a choice? Did he have many friends here?”

“He had a lot of people licking his ass,” Lenny snorted. “But here's the rule in prison; rapists are nothing next to murderers. There are serial killers here, fearless people who are enough to scare the bravest of all. Trewin, like most of the less dangerous guys, licked their asses. I didn't know him well to know what the was up to out of here.”

“Did he ever talk about revenge? About what he'd do if he got an out?”

“I was never so close to know.”

“All right, Lenny. Well, if you don't have any more useful informa—,”

“Wait,” Lenny interrupted, desperate to gain some favour, “wait... I know something. The night before the riot a few of us were talking, and someone asked him where was he going to stay. He said he had some friends down south, but didn't give anymore details.”

“That's useful, thank you Lenny. Goodbye.”

“Wait! What about me? Will you talk with the judge?!” he asked desperately as he was taken by two cops.

“The judge will know you collaborated with the police. They will also know you knew about the riot in advance, though,” Ashlyn raised eyebrows, and Lenny scowled, cursing as he left them.

The next inmate knew that Trewin had left with Rodger, another rapist, and Ian, who had killed his wife. Apparently Rodger had a cousin who worked in a factory in London and was willing to employ them and give them fake ID, but police hadn't been able to find this cousin yet. The only other inmate willing to talk with them was Ivan's cell-mate, who said Ivan had told him Trewin just wanted to get out and have revenge on the girl who got him put in prison. It was his sole ambition.

This didn't bring them much ease as they walked out of the prison and back into the car lot. Ashlyn sensed Ali's worry, matching her own, and proposed to go for a coffee in one of the little villages of the Cotswolds on the way back to London. In a village so small it was hard not to exit it by accident, a villager guided them to a small café and they sat around a corner table at the cosy place. There, Ashlyn took Ali's hand over the table. She hadn't been able to touch her in prison, because she didn't want prisoners to know how meaningful they were to each other, in case they had communications open with Trewin.

“Hey, it's gonna be okay, Alex,” Ashlyn reassured her, kissing her temple as her hand squeezed hers. “You'll see.”

“He wants to kill me, Ash. How many people will get hurt just in his attempts to get to me?”

“None,” Ashlyn replied. “Come on, I wouldn't allow it.”

“You can't control everything. You can't make big promises.”

Ashlyn pursed her lips and nodded, moving closer to her and wrapping both arms around her.

“I can promise you that we have faced bigger dragons and won. You are the most skilled, intelligent, brave person I know, and I'm not too bad myself,” Ali snorted a laugh, and Ashlyn smiled small, caressing her face. “Together, we are unstoppable. We have each other's backs and we always will, and we love each other and have a multitude of people to help us, guide us and comfort us, people we can trust. He has none of that, Ali. You play with advantage. You have to remember who's the shark. Who is it?”

“I am the shark.” Ali said reluctantly, with a little smirk.

“Damn right you are,” Ashlyn kissed her softly and then hugged her tightly. “I love you so much, you know?”

“I love you too. I guess it can' be worse than Curtis.”

“Wise words.”

When they returned to the car, Ali was visibly in a bit of an improved mood, leaning over the console to bury a hand in Ashlyn's hair and kiss her once more before they continued driving. They had already phoned Abby to tell her what they had found out, and now they just had to continue down the narrow A424 through the green fields of the Costwolds, but fortunately for them traffic was not-existing, so Ashlyn accelerated just a little.

As they drove, Ali turned on the radio and looked through the window. Cars calmed her, and Ashlyn lately was doing well with them, not getting nervous, at least if either of the women were driving. The views were worth the trip as well. All she could see was pistachio green, then soft grey were the towns in the far distance were, and then the darkening blue sky, the day calm and giving them a break from rain and snow at once.

All of the sudden, a shrill loud noise ripped through the air, and everything went black for what seemed like a moment. When Ali blinked herself awake, her head was pounding and her vision was blurry. As she closed her eyes for a moment, feeling dizzy, she moved her fingers to her nose, that she felt wet, and saw there was just a tiny bit of blood. Confused, she looked around. Her window was cracked where her head hat hit. The air-bags were out, her seat-belt remained on, her knees hurt.

“Ashlyn...” Ali turned around and her eyes widened. The driver's door was ripped open, the belt neatly cut, as if it had been cut with a scissor, the air-bag out, blood-stained, and no Ashlyn. Ali turned more and saw the back-door of Ashlyn's side was entirely shoved in, as if it had been hit by another car so badly it had completely sunken. “Ashlyn...” Ali fumbled with her seatbelt and freed herself, stumbling out of the car, that was in the middle of the field by the road. She saw marks on the road to the car, in fact, there were marks of another car, not just her own, yet no one else was around. “Ashlyn! ASHLYN!” Ali shouted, walking around the car. The driver's side was sunken and dented, the driver's door on the ground, and there were some red drops on the grass, but the trail stopped very suddenly in the middle of the grass. Ali felt her heart race and herself get dizzy. “ASHLYN!!!”

  
  



End file.
